OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 06: Johnny Manziel #2 of the Texas A&M Aggies is tackled by LaKedrick King #28 of the Ole Miss Rebels during a game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on October 6, 2012 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 06: Johnny Manziel #2 of the Texas A&M Aggies stiff arms LaKedrick King #28 of the Ole Miss Rebels during a game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on October 6, 2012 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

OXFORD, MS - OCTOBER 06: Johnny Manziel #2 of the Texas A&M Aggies reacts to a call during a game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on October 6, 2012 in Oxford, Mississippi. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2012, file photo, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel throws a short pass in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game against Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. LSU's fast, disciplined defense has shut down dynamic quarterbacks and high-scoring offenses in recent seasons. Still, the Aggies' Manziel got the Tigers' attention when the Aggies put up 59 points last weekend. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) scrambles for the quarterback keeper during the first half of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) looks to pass during the first quarter of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) scrambles as gained more than 50 yards during the first quarter of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) scrambles as gained more than 50 yards during the first quarter of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) celebrates signing the Aggie War Hymm with the rest of his team after winning against Arkansas 58-10 of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. Texas A&M beat Arkansas 58-10. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) celebrates signing the Aggie War Hymm with the rest of his team after winning against Arkansas 58-10 of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. Texas A&M beat Arkansas 58-10. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M celebrates a touchdown against Arkansas at Kyle Field on Sept. 29, 2012 in College Station. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M passes against Arkansas at Kyle Field on Sept. 29, 2012 in College Station. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) scrambles for the quarterback keeper during the first half of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel (2) scrambles during the first quarter of a college football game at Kyle Field, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station. ( Karen Warren / Houston Chronicle ) (Houston Chronicle)

Photo By Pat Sullivan/Associated Press

Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, right, is tackled by Arkansas 's A.J. Turner during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

Kerrville-Tivy's Johnny Manziel (03) fights off a tackle from Burbank's Mario Trejo (right) during their game at SAISD Sports Complex on November 14, 2008.

Photo By Express-News file photo

Tivy quarterback Johnny Manziel stiff-arms Ethan Rapp as he tries to get to the outside in the second half of their playoff game Friday, November 21, 2008 at Comalander Stadium. Tivy held off the Tigers, 14-6.

Photo By Express-News file photo

Tivy's Johnny Manziel is brought down after making a catch by Trever Garcia in the first half Friday, November 28, 2008 at Comalander Stadium.

Kerrville Tivy's Johnny Manziel tires to shake the tackle of Dayton's Cameron Lacour during second half action of the Class 4A Division II state seminfinal Saturday Dec. 13, 2008 at Georgetown High School stadium in Georgetown, Tx. Dayton won 31-28.

Photo By Tom Reel/San Antonio Express-News

Knight defenders Shane Huhn (9) and Jake Hatcher put the brakes on a run by Antler quarterback Johnny Manziel in the first half as Steele plays Kerrville Tivy at Lehnhoff Stadium in Schertz on Friday, October 23, 2009.

Photo By Express-News file photo

Tivy quarterback Johnny Manziel heads upfield on a run in the first half Friday, September 26, 2008 at Tivy Stadium.

Kerrville-Tivy's Johnny Manziel (03) runs in for a touchdown against Calhoun during their Class 4A Div. II state quarterfinal game at Heroes Stadium on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

Kerrville-Tivy's Johnny Manziel throws on the run against Calhoun in Class 4A Div. II state quarterfinal football game at Heroes Stadium on Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

Kerrville-Tivy's Johnny Manziel (left) consoles teammate Braedon White as Brenham defeated the Antlers in the 4A football state semifinals in Georgetown, Texas on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. Tivy lost 31-21.

Photo By Kin Man Hui/San Antonio Express-News

Kerrville-Tivy's Johnny Manziel (03) attempts a pass against Brenham's Michael Walker (15) in the 4A football state semifinals in Georgetown, Texas on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. Tivy lost 31-21.

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HOW MANZIEL RANKS

Six games into his college football career, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel has left opponents and fans alike scratching their heads. Here's a look at where the freshman from Kerrville Tivy ranks in several key categories:

COLLEGE STATION — Johnny Manziel's football bravado earned him headlines in the Hill Country as a teenager, but Jerry Loggins first observed his grandson's incomparable competitiveness a decade earlier on fishing trips. When counting bass on a boat in the middle of an East Texas lake.

“If he caught more fish than I did, everything was rosy,” Loggins said, chuckling at the memory of a pint-sized Johnny reveling in the conquering of his finned foe. “But, boy, he'd get mad if I caught more, and when we'd get back to the house, he'd shut the door to his room and you wouldn't see him the rest of the night.”

Why? To ponder whipping his grandpa at a competition — of course others consider fishing a way to relax that requires as much luck as skill.

“He's the most competitive kid ... nah, I'm not even going to say kid — he's the most competitive person I've ever met,” said Loggins, whose Loggins Restaurant in Tyler is adorned in Manziel memorabilia.

Manziel, Texas A&M's freshman star quarterback who's earning mention as a Heisman Trophy candidate, rose to prominence at Kerrville's Tivy High School. But his unabashed competitiveness bloomed in Tyler, a place he was born and raised and where the Manziel name is prominent.

A great-great uncle, Bobby Joe Manziel, was a boxer known as “The Syrian Kid,” and also a sparring partner with the legendary Jack Dempsey. Bobby Joe earned his own legendary status in East Texas as a prominent oil wildcatter.

Johnny was born in 1992 to Paul and Michelle Manziel, who were sweethearts at Tyler's Lee High, where both were on the school's golf team. Paul later became friends with Jacky Lee, a former A&M golfer who also coached a powerhouse Pop Warner football team dubbed the Tyler Hurricanes.

Lee noticed Johnny's extraordinary athleticism even as a skinny 8-year-old, but Johnny's mother and grandmother, Lyana Loggins, were insistent the youngster would not play football while in elementary school.

“I'd always see Johnny playing basketball and baseball with my son, Ross,” said Lee, whose father, also named Jacky Lee, was a one-time Houston Oilers' quarterback. “But his mother didn't want him playing football because she was afraid he'd get hurt. So he would come to our games and just watch.”

Football not best sport

Johnny was finally able to join the Hurricanes in sixth grade — most of his peers had started with the team in second grade — and was “immediately the best athlete on the field,” Lee said. So the young man now dubbed “Johnny Football” for his collegiate exploits earned his first of many monikers — “Johnny Hurricane” — on the Hubbard Middle School grounds. Lee said on Johnny's first play in his first practice, he rolled to his left and threw right.

“That's a hard throw for a right-handed quarterback to make,” Lee said. “But he threw a pass that looked like it was on a clothesline. His ability to do that comes from being a shortstop in baseball.”

That's another legend about the phenom A&M receiver Uzoma Nwachukwu has dubbed “Captain Amazing.” Some longtime observers claim football might be Manziel's third-best sport, behind baseball and golf. Lee, an Aggie golfer in the 1980s, said Manziel would easily start for A&M's nationally-ranked baseball team, and that he was shooting par on the links by the time he was 11.

“He's some kind of special to watch,” Lee said.

Had Manziel not won the Aggies' starting quarterback gig this past summer over sophomores Jameill Showers and Matt Joeckel, he might very well have played baseball for A&M this spring, a family member said.

When Johnny was in junior high, Paul took a job in Kerrville, and the family, including younger sister Meri, uprooted from Tyler and headed for the Hill Country. That's where Julius Scott, Tivy's then-offensive coordinator, first laid eyes on the rangy youth with a smile as wide as Tyler's Earl Campbell Parkway.

“Johnny played all of the sports, and excelled in everything he did,” Scott said. “I didn't start working with him until he was a sophomore, but I told another coach at that time, ‘You remember the name Johnny Manziel. He will be the greatest football player ever from Tivy.'

“He just had this magnetism about him, in addition to being a tremendous athlete. He wasn't selfish at all, and that made him special. You'd think a star would want all the glamour and glory, but not Johnny. All he wanted to do was win, and that was the trait I loved about him the most.”

Win he did, leading the Antlers to the Class 4A state semifinals as a junior, and the second round of the playoffs as a senior. He threw for 3,609 yards and 45 touchdowns and rushed for another 1,674 yards and 30 scores his final season.

“Johnny always deflected any attention to his teammates,” said then-Tivy coach Mark Smith, now at Judson. “He has this great confidence about him, but at the same time doesn't beat people over the head with it.”

Manziel, whom A&M coach Kevin Sumlin hasn't yet made available to the media this season, grew up a Longhorns' fan (he often sported UT gear around Tyler), but UT didn't heavily recruit him. In fact, Florida coach Will Muschamp said that UT, where Muschamp had previously served as defensive coordinator, only wanted Manziel as a defensive back.

Plans to be a Duck

In June before his senior year, Manziel verbally pledged to Oregon, primarily because he didn't have any offers from prominent Texas schools. Then Tom Rossley, who recruited the San Antonio area for then-A&M coach Mike Sherman, caught Manziel Fever.

Still, Rossley's early pitch to Sherman on offering Manziel a scholarship wasn't greeted with open arms, because Sherman preferred a prototypical, tall passer in his NFL offense.

“He wanted that perfect fit at quarterback,” said the now-retired Rossley, who was A&M's quarterbacks coach at the time. “The 6-foot-3 quarterbacks look real pretty, and Johnny didn't look real pretty. So it took me a while, but you can't measure Johnny's intangibles.”

Rossley also invoked a name dear to Sherman in a comparison to Manziel, who is 6-1 and 200 pounds. Sherman had served as Brett Favre's head coach at Green Bay, and Rossley was Favre's offensive coordinator for six years.

“Johnny reminds me a lot of Brett Favre,” Rossley said. “Johnny would play every down in practice (last year) like he was in the Super Bowl, and that's how Brett was in practice.

“I told some Aggies last year not to worry about losing Ryan Tannehill, because Johnny Manziel was going to make them forget about Tannehill.”

As for Rossley prying Manziel away from his original pledge?

“Johnny's going to be a legend from Texas, and he needed to play in Texas,” Rossley said. “We didn't need to share that legend with Oregon.”

The legend is growing in Aggieland under Sumlin. After redshirting last year behind Tannehill in what turned out to be Sherman's final year — he was fired after a 6-6 regular season — Manziel in only six college games already has snapped the Southeastern Conference single-game record for total yards.

Twice.

Like old times

A week ago, Manziel broke his own record set two weeks prior against Arkansas with 576 yards — 395 passing and 181 running — in a 59-57 road win at Louisiana Tech.

Today, he'll face his stiffest challenge yet in the big, swift defense of LSU at 11 a.m. at Kyle Field. His family will root him on from the stands, occasionally scrunching their eyes when he dodges much bigger tacklers in what's become his signature.

“I cringe because I know the other teams' players are out to get him now,” said Manziel's step-grandmother, Tammie Manziel. “I really worry about him, because he's like a Chihuahua out there who thinks he can beat up a Labrador.”

On his mother's side of the family, Loggins would sometimes rather be fishing than watch Manziel in another cliffhanging performance.

“I saw Johnny after the Louisiana Tech game,” Loggins said of A&M clinging to victory over the Bulldogs. “I told him, ‘You're about to give this old man a heart attack.' He started laughing but I said, ‘It's not funny.'”

With that, a grinning Manziel disappeared behind the locker room door — much like the old days back in Tyler after an afternoon of fishing — this time quite rosy from a wild win.